Clare's letter

If there is any way this can be useful, I think Clare would be fine with sharing it:

Dear friends of the Creator community,

I have heard of your journey to explore as a congregation the possibility of becoming a Reconciled in Christ community. As a daughter of the church who lives in another place, and who gets to spend so little time as a part of your church family, I have been hesitant to add my voice to the conversation. However, in discussing both the progress and frustrations of this journey as related to me by my mother, I feel compelled to add my petition for your consideration; and I hope that it is not presumptuous of me to do so.

As I said, I've only had the privilege to worship with you a handful of times, but your quality of character and faith strikes me as that of a true and thoughtful community. I was warmed and delighted to hear that you are discussing being an RIC church. I feel that I can speak well and appropriately for both myself and my generation when I say that this is the direction we seek in the church. When recently asked, the youth of the ELCA has overwhelmingly supported RIC communities, as well as the right of gay male and lesbian ministers to have partners. It pains me when I see my sisters in faith and brothers in love -- your sisters in faith, your brothers in love -- who have been rejected and condemned by the greater society and often by their own faith communities because of their sexual orientation or identification. This is unjust and un-Christ-like.

In Matthew 25, Jesus says to the righteous that they have done rightly, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." When they ask in confusion when it was that they did these things, he replies, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." What is perhaps the most powerful thing about this story is in the people who do not understand Christ in others. They too asked, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?" His response is the same -- "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

Christ comes to us in people in whom we do not expect. To be reconciled in Christ means that we are receptive to the possibility of Christ in others. It means that we take seriously Christ's commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, to recognize that we are all created by the same God, loved by the same God, and embraced in the same family. We turn our back on Christ's message and vision as we find it in the scriptures when we, like the Pharisees, allow our arrogance and pride to win as we act as judge and jury, rejecting those whom we have made the "other," the "them," from God's Church.

Oregon, as a Synod, has announced its intention to be an RIC synod. The youth of our denomination have said that they are ready and intentional about being an RIC faith. The vast majority within Creator itself has said that we are ready to be an RIC community. Please heed these voices upon voices, pleas upon pleas for peace, justice, and reconciliation between broken sisters and brothers. Open the doors, your arms, and your hearts and let us bring everyone back home.

Love,
Clare Brauer-Rieke
Sister in Christ, Member of Creator Lutheran Church

Proposed resolution

Resolution To Adopt RIC Statement of Welcome
Creator Lutheran Church
January 2009

Background: In late 2007/early 2008, a grass-roots group of Creator members formed a Council-sanctioned team to help the congregation move through a year of discernment on becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation. The team members have included Gary Schulstad, Toni Hartung, Gretchen Brauer-Rieke, Mary Steinberg, Janice Edberg, Kelly Carlisle and Diane Mattox. Some team members took part in a multi-day national RIC training session in March, helping to provide a sense of structure for helping the congregation to examine the issue.

The RIC team has placed information articles in the newsletter each month as well as holding monthly sessions with the congregation – both as special sessions and as post-worship conversations – in order to help work through thoughts and feelings that inevitably result from this kind of change. With congregational input, the team crafted an explicit Statement of Welcome that is unique to Creator Lutheran Church – a large majority of the congregation surveyed in September said they approve of this statement. As stated at the 2008 Annual Meeting in January, the timeline has been to hold a congregational vote on our proposed Statement of Welcome at the 2009 Annual Meeting.

Proposed Statement of Welcome:
Creator Lutheran Church welcomes you to come – as you are, where you are, and who you are – and join us in worship, fellowship, and ministry.

The Gospel reveals God's astounding grace as an unconditional gift of love for all people, so ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status are not barriers to our invitation. Instead, as an inclusive community grounded in God's love and following Jesus' example, we celebrate the diversity of God's creation.

Implications: If this statement is approved by an 80% majority, Creator Lutheran will become officially recognized as a Reconciling in Christ congregation, joining the Oregon Synod, eight other Oregon ECLA congregations and 22 Washington congregations who also have approved explicit statements of welcome. Our statement will be placed on our website, in church bulletins, and in other media that may be read by the public. The RIC team is committed to remaining in place (in some form) to assist the congregation in carrying out the intent of open hospitality that our statement speaks of.

If the statement is not approved by 80% of the congregation, we will fall back to our charter statement which says that we “provide fellowship and loving support for each other, encouraging tolerance, inclusiveness, and unity…” - providing hospitality to those who enter our doors, but without the explicit nature of a public RIC statement.

RIC Team Meeting Agenda for December 11th: 7 PM at Creator

Hi Team,

Here is the agenda for tonight. Let me know if there is an item you think we should add.

Agenda

* Debrief on December 7th Adult Education - New action items and ideas

* Susan's Talk to RIC Team

* Plans and preparation for Congregational vote. Specific language to the resolution to bring before the congregation December council presentation (currently requesting council recommendation for passsage)

* Posting Affirmation of Welcome for vote on RIC Bulletin Board for congregation's review

* RIC Team Talk from same page - Questions are coming up, particularly after last Sunday's activity, and we may want to decide on a standard team response to those questions.

* Determine January newsletter article - Deadline Monday, December 15th

* RIC Sunday - Promoting event at Mt. Carmel 515 SW Maplecrest Dr.

* Post congregational vote plans - Next steps on the journey:

LCNA normally turns around designation in two weeks but can do it faster if needed.
Paul and Karen LCNA Region 1 Regional Coordinators want to present certificate.

Publicity Plans

Rescheduling the December 4th RIC Team Meeting

Hello RIC team,

Sorry for the short notice but a number of us were not going to make it to tonight's meeting. I think it is best to reschedule.

Would next Thursday (December 11th) work for everyone? Let me know good times for you to meet in case next Thursday does not work.

Also Susan Nolte wants to attend and speak to us at this meeting.

Peace,

Gary

December 7 Adult Forum, Council Meeting

Hello,

Just to let you know, we now have four confirmed representatives from RIC congregations to answer questions about directions RIC congregations may take after the vote. Vicky Charlston, Ann Fruechte, and Jack & Diane Neubert all agreed to come and answer questions about RIC congregations and what can happen after the vote to become RIC.

Also, you may be interested that LCNA has a YouTube Channel with a couple familiar faces (to us) who are telling stories:

Michelle Kisinger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9gYGbTu32A

and Paul Jolly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg2Wl-WHuEc

I presented our team's written recommendations about the Congregational vote to become RIC at the last council meeting. This included that there be one statement to put to a vote (adopt the Affirmation of Welcome to have Creator become an RIC congregation), that our team recommends an 80% approval of those who vote to pass, and that the council recommend passage to the congregation.

The vote will happen at the next council meeting.

See you at our next RIC meeting.

Thanks,

Gary

Latest RIC statement revision

Based on our work tonight, here is the latest draft of our RIC statement:

Creator Lutheran Church welcomes you to come – as you are, where you are, and who you are – and join us in worship, fellowship, and ministry.

The Gospel reveals God’s astounding grace as an unconditional gift of love for all people. Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status are not barriers to our invitation. Instead, as an inclusive community grounded in God’s love and following Jesus’ example, we celebrate the diversity of God’s creation.

November 6, 2008 - Tonight's Creator RIC Team Meeting Agenda

We are moving into the home stretch. From Sunday conversations I believe most of you will attend tonight's meeting. Let me know if you want to add to this agenda:

* Plans and preparation for Congregational vote
Specific language to the resolution to bring before the congregation
December council presentation (request council recommendation / support)

* Affirmation of Welcome suggestions and review other RIC Survey feedback

* Plan December 7th Adult Education (Nov 23rd cancelled. The two dates were too close)

* Plans for Advent Wednesday service / Congregational paragraphs on RIC

* Determine December newsletter article

* Post congregational vote plans - Next steps on the journey

Look forward to seeing the team at 7:00 tonight.

Peace,

Gary

October 2, 2008 Creator RIC Team Meeting Agenda

Here is the agenda for our meeting. I look forward to seeing you there and I am sorry there is the schedule conflict with tonight's VP Debate.

Peace,

Gary

* Debrief on September’s Adult Forum
* Post Survey and Post Vote Planning
* Current Survey Results
* RIC FAQ
* Finding those willing to write a paragraph that explains their thoughts on RIC.
* Planning October RIC Adult Forum – Other Explicit Welcome
* Determining November Activity
* Writing November Newsletter Article
* Working with Spiritworks Teams
* Working with the LCNA Portland Chapter

RIC Survey and Q & A on RIC Discernment

Thanks again to the team for their contribution to the discussion together with the questions and answers on RIC discernment.

When asked about the moments in the discernment process that touched people deeply Bishop Dave's Bible study was brought up as one of the powerful moments. Another was the RIC team truly being involved in congregational discernment rather than trying to take the congregation through a process where RIC designation was inevitable.

This was the first congregational group where we talked about wanting 80% approval from the congregation for Creator to become RIC. There was worry about the high bar the RIC team will be recommending and a concern about what would happen if Creator fails to become an RIC congregation. The RIC team may want to talk about what will need to happen to make sure the congregation will not feel acrimony between members after the results are known.

Another question that came up was where the RIC statement would be published or displayed. There is a concern about how visible it should be.

We went over the upcoming themes for the months until the January vote. For the most part the participants felt comfortable with future plans. There was a suggestion to play the tape Mary made of Pastor Christian's amazing talk, that kicked off our discernment, for an upcoming RIC Sunday. Pastor Christian's comfort with playing that tape would have to be considered. Another potential topic for our Thursday meeting.

We may want to talk about a need for RIC logo pins. Two members expressed a desire to show support by wearing them.

We received our first completed paper surveys after the activity and many more were distributed, so our invitation to fill out a survey made a difference.

We will have more to discuss at our next meeting. If anyone who was there has additional feedback on what happened at our gathering, feel free to comment on this post.

Sunday's RIC Activity - Survey Q/A and a continued discernment discussion

Hopefully you have all seen the letter about the survey that was mailed out and Toni's email link.

We did not find speakers from other congregations to talk about their experiences being RIC this Sunday, so tomorrow's topic changed.

We will answer any questions about the survey (perhaps have people fill out surveys). We will also discuss our discernment process from now until January. The goal is to discover what other participants, besides our team, want to see happen in Creator's process that we may not have included yet.

As of today, there are17 survey responses.

76.5% or 13 participants want Creator to become an RIC congregation.

88.2% or 15 participants would vote for the sample Affirmation statement.

Not the results I expected to date.

See you tomorrow,

Gary

September Meeting Minutes

Hello RIC Team,

If you have trouble opening the Word attachment on the email I sent, let me know (new version of Word now on my PC).

Sorry for the duplication. This email will be generated as I write the meeting minutes as a blog entry.

- Gary

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The September 4th team meeting was productive. There is now a draft Affirmation of Welcome and questions for the survey.

* We decided to keep the Affirmation of Welcome short and to write up a detailed rationale statement to include points that would make the current statement too long. Please feel free to provide feedback on the survery and / or the statement of welcome.

* The survey will be mailed to the congregation and will reference a Survey Monkey link on the web. Members can either turn in the survey or fill it out on line.

* Survey Monkey allows for a free, basic survey with 100 responses or less. We decided we will work with the basic functions and upgrade to professional if the survey response warrants.

* For our September event we talked about having representatives from RIC congregations come in to talk about changes in their congregation since becoming RIC. We want to ask what was planned and accomplished after becoming RIC as well. I emailed PDX RIC Core Team members and LCNA representatives and have not heard back yet.

* For October we are planning to focus on Other Explicit Welcomes. We are planning a moderated talk that focuses on members stories around welcome.

* We want to write up an RIC Q/A that will be a direct result of the survey, addressing questions and concerns brought up in the feedback. * Gretchen brought up finding people who would be willing to write a paragraph for the congregation that explains their thoughts on RIC.

* We decided that RIC needs to pass with an 80% yes vote by the congregation in January or Creator will not become an RIC congregation.

More feedback from Sunday RIC Activity

It is interesting. On Sunday there was a perception that the same people come to these RIC events each time and that we "preach to the choir". Yet the heartfelt feedback on Sunday is coming from those for whom Sunday was only their first or second event.

One of our proposed explicit welcomes connected Sunday with someone who was divorced. There are other Creator members who still feel uncomfortable with a divorce in their past. They are hesitant to share their past because of their church's reactions at the time of their divorces.

October was initially our Ongoing Refinement of the Affirmation of Welcome. Let's change this to an Other Explicit Welcome month to focus on others in our congregation who don't feel the blanket "all are welcome" necessarily refers to them.

We can discuss this at our meeting next Thursday.

RIC Language of Affirmation Adult Forum

Hello Team,

Thanks for all who helped with this Sunday’s activity and thanks to those who were there with us in spirit.

This Sunday the primary take aways were not suggestions on the language of the statement (although we have seven we can discuss). Those in attendance continued the conversation regarding fears, concerns and what excites us about RIC. I was somewhat surprised by what needed to be explained and emphasized to this group today. We may need to have deeper discussions with the congregation in at least two areas:

Who is journeying with us and who are “we”? The RIC team understands the why, when and how of activities. There are those, not as closely connected with the discernment, in the group that met today who believe that given all the activity, our RIC team is pushing exclusively towards becoming RIC rather than focusing on RIC discernment and would override what the congregation wants.

Questions came up about the timing, (why come up with a draft Affirmation of Welcome now), other things we could be doing (inviting others with mental disabilities or those in different socioeconomic groups to tell their stories) and questioning if there were better things to focus on than RIC at Creator at present. Also whether we were following Pastor Dayle’s agenda on this came up again.

We addressed these questions in the group. If this needs to be brought to the congregation’s attention and how best to accomplish that are questions we need to answer as a team.

There were suggestions from the group about increasing the attendance at the activities and, as a result, engaging more of the congregation. One suggestion was for each of us to personally invite someone else.

What does being an RIC congregation mean? The group was not clear that to become RIC means the Affirmation of Welcome must explicitly welcome both gender identity and sexual orientation. We talked about why a congregation would become RIC. We probably need to explore this question more with those who are not on the team. Basically the question to be answered is:

If we passed an Affirmation of Welcome to welcome all rather particular groups isn’t that enough if it is all about Creator being welcoming as a community?


There were other areas but these are probably the main areas to address.

For those who were there please comment on anything I did not write about that we should address. I will write up the language suggestions in a different post.

We received some kudos as a team for our effort so far in the meeting. I pass them along and add the team continues to amaze me with the passion and effort you put into the RIC process at Creator.

Thanks,

Gary

Resources

Who has "For the Bible Tells Me So" video? I'm thinking that perhaps we need to think about a time to set up a showing for the congregation. Ideas?

Also, while at Holden Village this last week, I read a book called "Take the Bread" by Sara Miles. (Pastor Mary referred to it in her sermon a few weeks ago.) I think it's very applicable to those of us in RIC discernment and recommend it to you as an interesting read. It's about radical discipleship and hospitality to all is a major theme.

Gretchen

Planning August 24th Adult Forum for Affirmation Language

Hello Team,

If you would like to help plan this Sunday's Adult Forum, let me know. Otherwise I don't think we have enough people to meet this Thursday.

My current thoughts are to write out different pieces of the language that received feedback on the colloborative space and talk about the different pieces of the Affirmation.

If you have conflicts and cannot help plan for this Sunday, please let me know if you will attend.

And now for something completely different (well, maybe not completely). At council meeting tonight they asked for the moderators and topics for RIC Adult Forums we will have through the end of the year.

Think about it and let me know your ideas.

Peace,

Gary

Tonight's RIC Meeting Cancelled

Hi,

Many on the team cannot meet tonight so we will reschedule the meeting. Would next Thursday work for everyone?

Thanks,

Gary

Agenda for RIC Meeting Tomorrow August 7

Hello Team,

I hope you are enjoying the summer. The Portland LCNA Chapter meetings will resume in September so currently there is not much to report on.

I continue to be overwhelmed by all that happened, and by what was presented in last month's Bible study. I have received feedback from those who attended together with those who have now watched Bishop Dave's presentation on the Oregon synod site.

Thanks again to all of you for making it happen.

This month's meeting will focus on our plans for the draft affirmation, language of explicit welcome, and how to inspire congregational participation.

God's peace,

Gary


Agenda

Discussion of Bible Study / Feedback

Plans for August 24th Affirmation Activity in Adult Forum

Plans for September Survey

September newsletter article

Hope, Homosexuality and Hospitality now online

The link for people who would like to listen to Dave's Bible study online is www.oregonsynod.org/bookoffaith/hhh

Good event - thanks!

I just wanted to thank everyone who helped to make the Bible study event last night a success. Special thanks for Toni for setting up and then putting the sanctuary banners back into place, to Janice for doing dishes afterwards, to Gary for set-up help and returning the sanctuary back to normal, and everyone else who put in time and energy in ways that I may not have seen.

We had 90 people present, mostly from other congregations, and the feedback that Dave and I have heard has been very positive. I think that, besides giving our own congregation the chance to explore the questions of the Bible and homosexuality, we encouraged a larger discussion in area churches - which is a good thing!

I'd be interested to know what you all have heard in response to the Bible study...

RIC Meeting Tomorrow, July 9th 7:00 PM

Hi,

It appears we are ready to meet tomorrow July 9th; the same agenda as before.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Peace,

Gary

Meeting this week?

Apparently Gary was the only one at our RIC meeting last Thursday night - oops!

Are there enough of us around this week that we can meet and continue planning for the summer? How about Thursday evening?

I promise to be mellow.

Agenda and Comments

Hello everyone!
As we were still in Norway for last nights meeting I am eager to hear how our discussion went. My views on the June 22nd meeting is that if we were able to get members of the congregation to express their views then it was a success. My understanding is that the meeting was not to convince people of an alternate point of view, it was simply to allow a forum for people to express themselves which appears to be exactly what happened. How many of the committee were able to meet to discuss the results? Would it be worth having another meeting when we can all be there before the scheduled Bible study?

Agenda for July 3rd Creator RIC team

Hello all,

Below is the proposed agenda for tomorrow's meeting. Let me know if there is anything to add.

Look forward to seeing those who can come.

Thanks,

Gary


Discussion of Last Adult Forum Feedback

Plans for July 23rd Bible study

Draft Affirmation Activity

Plans for August Activity

August newsletter article

Naming Our Fears and Concerns, Honoring Our Traditions

Kudos to Kelly for this discussion's success. People appeared comfortable to voice concerns. Here are the notes I made of the discussion. There were very interesting details about what happened that should make for a good discussion at our meeting next Thursday.

Concerns and Fears:

RIC team is pushing an agenda and is not concerned about those opposing RIC and giving them a voice.

There are those holding a secret (GLBT) that is affecting their self worth. Between feeling like wheat and chaff they are feeling like chaff.

After a year of discernment nothing will happen.

We need to reach agreement to remain in community and that may not happen in the end.

I am feeling prejudice to those that oppose becoming an RIC congregation.

Things that are said for and against will be misunderstood.

A year may not be long enough.

We are simply following Pastor Dayle’s agenda by pursuing RIC.

How will things actually change?

With RIC we will wave a rainbow flag. GLBT have always been welcome at Creator but this will bring in those with a political edge. This is drawing too much attention.

Explicit welcome for people engaging in extramarital sex will compromise the church’s traditional moral standards and condoned behaviors.

There needs to be a deeper discussion about choice. Given the spectrum of people's sexuality that some may have a choice and the church's position will sway them towards GLBT or away from it.

It is not our job to judge. We will judge rather than welcome.

Explicit welcomes will either be a laundry list to include all or will not include everyone.

RIC is draining resources and focus from deeper Creator needs. Mission to young families is being neglected.

I feel concerned that if those in Creator who disagree with one another over this issue are judging and we need to love those who don’t think like us.

Fear: Families may not want to worship here. Need to find voice for everyone. Anger: There are other more pressing concerns for Creator that our time should be invested in.

Financial concerns: Families may leave.

Creator is not doing a good job of welcoming some people now. We won’t be able to welcome GLBT even if we become an RIC congregation.

Concern people see this as following Pastor Dayle’s agenda. Creator knew her feelings on this coming in.

We need to intentionally do things differently to welcome. Fear is this will not be regarded as a challenge and status quo on welcome will remain.

We do not have enough personal responsibility for welcome. We do not follow what has been welcoming in the past. Not getting out of church without a hug from pastor.

When we welcome GLBT we are turning our back or ignoring scripture.

Concern about “dark side” GLBT (those who have no intention of living in monogamous relationships) coming to the church because of the explicit invitation.

We need to have a sense of community in order to be welcoming. How does Creator define itself as a community? We want to be a church with members that share common thoughts and values.

Another RIC statement

When Dave was preaching at Central Lutheran in Portland, he picked up this RIC statement as printed in their bulletin:

Welcome! In response to the call in Romans 15:7 to "welcome one another...as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God," we, the members of Central Lutheran Church, join hands with all our sisters and brothers regardless of race, age, gender identity, marital status, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientations, national origin, or economic status. We celebrate the diversity of God's family and our unity as God's people.

I like it!

Adult Forum this Sunday - Naming Our Concerns and Fears

Kelly has graciously volunteered to lead this Sunday's Adult Forum. Here are his thoughts, a structure he proposes and comments about a Thursday meeting:

It's pretty clear to me that my role would be to coax out the issues and attitudes that people may be holding onto out of fear or anxiety, and that the only way this can truly be accomplished is to honor their honesty and courage in speaking up. It will probably take a bit for people to speak, but once one person does, the next person might, and the ball would get rolling. The input from people that we collect in the box can be used as a series of prompts to give structure to the conversation. We could call it, "Thinking out of the box."

Here's a possible structure:

Welcome/PrayerIntroductions

Statement of Purpose

Norms/Expectations

"Thinking out of the Box"
Prompts as needed/keep the conversation going, reminders about norms as needed

Conclusion:
Where do we go from here: how will we go about addressing these concerns, next steps

PrayerDismiss

I doubt that a meeting would be necessary, but I certainly would welcome the committee's input via email in terms of desired outcomes, suggestions, etc.

RIC Feedback - Two weeks combined total

There are now 42 responses from our bulletin inserts:


Do you have fears and or concerns about Creator adopting a formal statement of welcome for all people including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people?



83% Have no fears or concerns (35)


7% Did have fears and concerns. (3)


10& Not sure (4)

No response (1)





Do you believe adopting a statement of welcome will change Creator?


71% Yes, and change will be positive. (30)


5% Yes, and change will be negative. (2)


5% There will be no change (5)


19% Not sure (5)



Taking the two questions together with the comments to determine an individual who individually has an issue with becoming an RIC congregation versus concern about others having concerns and leaving of those who responded to this RIC feedback:

95% of those who responded would vote to become RIC if they were not concerned about others (40)

5% would vote against (2).

RIC meeting this week?

Hi - Just wanted to be sure that everyone knows that the RIC team is meeting this week to review feedback responses and prepare for the session next Sunday - right? Not that I'm going to be around - I'm headed out for my Celtic Pilgrimage, but am eager for the meeting on Sunday to go well. Gary - did you ever post the minutes of our last meeting? Maybe I missed it.

This Sunday RIC Feedback Results

Thanks to everyone for making the bulletin inserts and for helping make the feedback annoucement this morning.

Here are the results from this Sunday's service.

There were 24 responses:

Do you have fears and or concerns about Creator adopting a formal statement of welcome for all people including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people?

87.5% Have no fears or concerns (21)

12.5% Did have fears and concerns. (3)

Of those concerned one marked RIC would be a positive change. That person was concerned others might be uncomfortable with the explicit affirmation of welcome.

Do you believe adopting a statement of welcome will change Creator?

70.83% Yes, and change will be positive. (17)

8.33% Yes, and change will be negative. (2)

0% There will be no change (0)

20.83% Not sure (5)

The primary concern was about people leaving the church over issue of the affirmation of welcome. The secondary concern was about whether there was a need for explicit welcome if we already welcome everybody.

There were comments as well. Affirming comments from a visitor, also that we would be living closer to the gospel in making the explicit affirmation of welcome and it would help us learn to be a more welcoming community.

A few people favoring explicit affirmation choose either the first or second question to express their concerns the comfort level of other congregation members (saying they did have a concern or they were not sure if there would be a change at Creator).

July Bible study

This is what we came up with for a description of Dave’s Bible study to use with the Creator congregation:

“What does the Bible say about . . . : Hope, Homosexuality and Hospitality?”

As our congregation considers becoming a “Reconciling in Christ” community, the question “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?” has come up. It’s a good question. We want a thoughtful answer. Wednesday evening, July 23, our own private bishop, Dave Brauer-Rieke of the Oregon Synod, will be present to lead us in a Bible Study on just this concern.

“It’s not so much what the Bible says as what we hear.” suggests Bishop Brauer-Rieke. “The question is always one of interpretation. The Bible clearly tells us not to lend money with interest, but this is the heart of our modern day economy. The Bible never questions the institution of slavery, but we today find it repugnant. The real question is not “What does the Bible say …” but “How do we faithfully engage modern day insights, opportunities and needs with the Word of God?”

So join us Wednesday, July 23 at 7 PM (and don’t forget the potluck at 6 PM!) for a Bible study not only on homosexuality, but on the power of the Living Word of God for everyday life. “What does the Bible say about . . . ?” You fill in the blank!

It seems that we can tweak this just a bit for RIC and the Synod office to use for publicity:

“What does the Bible say about . . . : Hope, Homosexuality and Hospitality?”

As Creator Lutheran Church in Clackamas considers becoming a “Reconciling in Christ” community, the question “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?” has come up. It’s a good question. We want a thoughtful answer. So we went straight to the Bishop and asked! Everyone is invited to come to Creator on Wednesday evening, July 23 when Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke of the Oregon Synod will lead us in a Bible Study on just this concern.

“It’s not so much what the Bible says as what we hear.” suggests Bishop Brauer-Rieke. “The question is always one of interpretation. The Bible clearly tells us not to lend money with interest, but this is the heart of our modern day economy. The Bible never questions the institution of slavery, but we today find it repugnant. The real question is not “What does the Bible say …” but “How do we faithfully engage modern day insights, opportunities and needs with the Word of God?”

So join us for a Bible study not only on homosexuality, but on the power of the Living Word of God for everyday life. “What does the Bible say about . . . ?” You fill in the blank!

Creator Lutheran Church is located on 13250 SE Sunnyside Road, east of I-205. You are welcome to potluck with us at 6 PM prior to the Bible study at 7 PM on Wednesday, July 23^rd. We’d love to have you help us engage this question

Let's Try That Again - Posting to the Affirmation Blog

I will send the minutes of tonight's meeting later.

In one discussion tonight we talked about posting more of our own comments on affirmations on the Creator blog spot. Having more comments may inspire others to add their comments.

We will also send the link again with a future congregational email.

You can publish anonymously. The link again is:

http://creator-affirmation.blogspot.com/

Possible Survey Tool

I developed a survey to show what is possible with a survey tool. For those who attended RIC training you will find this familiar. Please do not take content to heart. This is only to show how the survey might look online.

Currently access this through your email using the following link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=C0xAMIfNJ9pR4FGGvHgtEg_3d_3d


We will talk about this at the meeting tonight.

Creator RIC Team Meeting Agenda for Thursday, June 5

Here is the proposed agenda for tomorrow's meeting. Let me know if there is anything else we need to address:


Plans for Adult Forum - Naming Our Fears & Concerns and Honoring Our Traditions Sunday, June 22nd

Other ideas to solicit feedback from congregation - Feedback Gretchen received

Request for online Survey tool for September

Working with Spiritworks small group structure – Anything to address with Pastor Dayle’s sabbatical

“The Bible Tells Me So” viewing opportunities

Networking with PFLAG decision

Plans for Bible study, July 23rd

Portland Chapter LCNA Roadtest "Walking the Talk of Welcome"

Draft Affirmation Activity

Youth RIC Activity

Other July Activities and July newsletter article

Youth discuss RIC

I'm posting Toni's email to me here in the blog, both to share it and to keep it in our official record:

We had limited time to discuss the RIC Challenge with the kids [on the Holden trip]. About 45 minutes total, but the kids were very articulate and definite and came up with something that I thought was rather brilliant. They condensed the welcome to welcoming people to Creator by asking them to come:

"As you are, where you are and who you are." (As you are, created by God, where you are in your spiritual and faith journey and who you are today and tomorrow. )

That is a very good start, I think.

June Event - Naming Our Fears and Concerns, Honoring Our Traditions

I will write an article for the June newsletter (due on Sunday) and want to move forward on an idea for a June event.

Our deepest concern for the past few RIC meetings has been to draw out the congregational fears, concerns and questions, particularly from those who may be hesitant to vote to become RIC.

This event would be planned so fears, concerns and questions can be brought to the table in a non-threatening way. Let's propose that what is brought up can either be an individual's fears, questions, concerns or they can talk about someone else's (take away someone having to "own" the concern). All concerns would be recorded. There would be no debate or challenge to any concern at this meeting.

The "Honoring our traditions" piece would be designed to move us towards understanding one another. We are in a different time and place now where a change appears necessary but this would be recognition that based on knowledge available in the past that the church proceeded down the path of concern and protection best understood at that time when the exclusion of GLBT was understood as God's will.

This would lead to the education in Bishop Dave's July Bible study, what the Bible does say about homosexuality & hospitality and why our ideas and approach are pushing a change to a tradition we may have followed in the past.

For those at the RIC training we might want to focus on baptism and have each person make a sign of the cross on another's forehead, recognizing them as a child of God.

Do you think that would attract those who are hesitant about the issue?

Feel free to add ideas about what would make this event a success or if you have any concerns we need to address around this event.

For a date would anyone have an issue with Sunday, June 22nd after worship? At the council meeting they liked our scheduled monthly RIC event after service a service.

Bishop Dave's Bible study in July

This is what Dave suggests for the Bible study name: "Hope, Homosexuality and Hospitality: What does the Bible say about . . . ?"

If that works, let’s just get it on the calendar for July 23^rd at whatever time summer things happen – 7 PM? Or potluck first at 6 PM?

I'm excited to offer this to the congregations of the Metro area as well as Creator - it kind of feels like hospitality!

Gretchen

Kudos - and thanks, Mary!

Thanks, Mary, for making the lunch and setting up our RIC event this afternoon. Although I think we were pretty much preaching to the choir, it was great to hear what Michelle, Doug, and his mom had to say. I personally learn something every time I hear GLBT people talk about their lives - I just wish more people would take advantage of these opportunities.

Re: Dave's Bible study on homosexuality - Creator's Day Camp is the week of July 13-18. Would it be good to do the study on that Weds (7/16) or wait until the following week, or does it make any difference?

What does the Bible say??

Dave is able to do a Weds evening Bible study on homosexuality on any Weds. in July except the first one (7/2). I'm wondering what you all think - maybe the 16th? Again, my idea is that we invite the entire Metro area to attend the Bible study in person, and then Dave will digitally record the study to put on the Oregon Synod website for people who are unable to attend. Let me know what you think. He does need to get a date on his calendar because his time gets filled up quickly...

Collaborative Space for Affirmation and Questions

The email Toni sent out yesterday with the link to the blog brought activity to the Collaborative Space. There are now comments on the posted affirmations you can check out.

At the Portland Metro RIC Core Team meeting Mic, one of our guest speakers, said she plans to attend our worship as well as the "Telling Stories" on Sunday.

I have a couple of questions for all of you. It would help me to know if anyone who attended the RIC Training in March received an invitation to join the RIC Core team in the past few weeks?

Also, is there anything else we should do in preparation for this coming Sunday's "Telling Stories"?

We're receiving great comments and kudos from the congregation about our RIC activities. Also, the LCNA Portland Metro Chapter and LCNA national have passed along how impressed they are with what our team is doing.

Keep up the good work.

Working with the Youth

Creator Lutheran Youth

RIC Challenge

On Wednesday evening, 5/7, the youth of Creator discussed becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation and were issued the following challenge:

Can you, before school is out for the summer, prepare a statement or summary about where the youth of Creator are on this issue and present it to the congregation?

To do so requires answering the following questions:

1) Is the time right for Creator Lutheran to adopt an explicit statement of affirmation and welcome for people who are GLBT, as well as others who have often not felt welcomed by the church? (Do the pros outweigh the cons?)

2) If we adopt such a statement, what will that mean for us in terms of our hospitality to strangers? What will such a welcome look like?

An assignment was issued to think and talk about this during the trip to Holden Village. The students were asked to find and read and discuss Holden’s own RIC statement of welcome.

The RIC team would be delighted if the youth would think of a way – uniquely their own – to let the congregation know how they feel about this issue. We can set up an after-service time in early June if you are ready.

background and talking points for hearings on Draft Social Statement From Tim Fisher, LCNA Administration

Dear RIC Team Trainees and Friends of Lutherans Concerned/North America:

The hearings on the Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality have begun.

Commenting on the Draft Social Statement in the press, Bishop Peter Strommen, head of the task force that created it, said that this was only a draft social statement, that the last social statement, the one on education that was passed at the last churchwide assembly, was changed 40% by the comment process. 40%. Take a look at the draft social statement (www.elca.org/faithfuljourney) to see what 40% you would like to see changed, look to see what 40% you want left as it is, and understand that there are those out there who want to keep what you want changed and to change what you want to keep. They are sure to comment.

Don't cross your fingers, hoping this will turn out ok. Uncross your fingers, put them to a keyboard or on a pen and send the Task Force your comments. Tell them what you like: tell them the truth unfolded from the Gospel that you see in the document. Tell them to leave it in. Tell them what you would like changed so that the whole document becomes one with that truth. Use the form provided. Go to
www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/draft and you can even do it online.

Find out when the hearing is in your synod; go to it. Speak up.

It is extremely important that ELCA members supportive of the full inclusion of LGBT people attend and speak. The results of the process of hearings will rely heavily on our willingness and ability to take the time and sum up the courage to engage that process at every level. The hearings at Synod Assemblies and at other times in your synod will provide critical opportunities for LGBT Lutherans, our families, allies, and advocates to speak and be heard. If we do not speak, we leave the discussion to those who would talk about us rather than with us.

It is important all voices be heard so that the resulting feedback is more representative and produces a more consistent social statement recognizing the faithful vocations of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in all aspects of the life of the church.

There are over 90 hearings scheduled throughout the ELCA. Please go to the following link to see the full list: www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/synods/

See below for talking points and other background information. You may share these, but please do so only with those whom you know to be supportive of the full inclusion of LGBT people in the life of the ELCA. If you need us to send you the talking points in another format, please write to admin@lcna.org.

If you are planning on attending a hearing, please drop us a line to let us know, and include your name and what synod you are in. You can respond to admin@lcna.org. Also, it would be great to hear back from you about how your hearing went.

Grace and peace,
The Staff of Lutherans Concerned

The Collaborative Space for Creator's Affirmation of Welcome

The url for the Collaborative Space for Creator's Affirmation of Welcome is:

http://creator-affirmation.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to link and comment on what needs to be changed before we present it to the congregation this Sunday. Also, feel free to send your suggestions for "seed" Affirmations of Welcome and we will post them.

My thought is to leave these affirmations up for a time, keep ones getting comments (either good or bad), and weed out those with no comments.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated

Adult Education Hour Update and Pastor Christian's Talk

So, with the May 18th is already booked for the Adult Education hour, as Mary said, we can still have our RIC potluck/guest speakers after the late service.

We have a couple of events then to take quick action on.

Are there items the team plans to bring for Wednesdays potluck? Just want to insure there is something to eat on Wednesday.

Do we want to take the Adult Education hour for next week? I would need to get the collaborative blog space ready and we would need to plan the talk / video and make sure all the equipment will work. I believe Gretchen is up to working at least part of the plan for the talk.

We will be meeting Thursday but we will probably want to confirm and get something in the bulletin if we want to move forward with the Adult Education.

Mary's Email with May 18th Adult Forum Recommendation and "Story Time" after second service

Hi All,

MAY 18th IS SET as the date for "story time" with Doug, his mom and his partner Tawk. They have already made a committment to us for this date. I have also contacted another couple who are considering coming and telling their stories of welcoming/hospitality in church.

I suggest using the adult forum time between services on May 18th as the time to present the "Year of Discernment Plan" to the congregation. Thatway we can package all the May RIC events in to one Sunday...May can be avery busy month for some families with Mothers Day, congregationalmeeting, graduations, etc.

I think it might be smart to condense our RIC agenda into one Sunday.

Action Plan for May 18th

1. Confirm guests
2. Bulletin board announcement in narthex
3. Announce in church services each preceeding Sunday
4. May newsletter: Congregational invitation to potluck/story time
5. Potluck sign up (In Narthex)
6. Set up volunteers (Narthex, with potluck sign up)
7. Clean-up volunteers (Narthex, with potluck sign up)

Mary

Everyone should get email when posting to this Blog

We will now get the latest blog entries emailed to us. Let me know if you do not want this to happen and I will take you off the list.

After Council and Core Team Meeting Update

Hello,

Please join me in welcoming Diane Mattox to the team!

Well, there is momentum before May to report. The presentation of our "Year of RIC Discernment Plan" to the council went well. Pastor Christian's talk is now confirmed for April 30th. We can take a May Adult Forum. Pastor Dayle suggested May 4th, which is the day of the congregational meeting but would be after second service. Could we pull this date off? Otherwise there is Mother's Day on May 11th, potentially stories from others after service on May 18th (see question below) and I doubt we will want to do it on Memorial Day weekend.

Mary Steinberg suggested May 18th for her friend and others to get together after second service to have her friend Doug, his mother and others to tell their stories. Will that schedule work for us? Would we want to have an RIC Sunday that bundles the Adult Forum Affirmation kick off on the same day as the after service event? Mary was also going to check that date out with others. Also there are LCNA Portland Chapter members we can invite. Once the date is firm we can talk about how many stories should be presented and the way the event will flow.

As far as our hospitality suggestion for a theme of this year's Bible Studies, there is no one currently taking responsibility for the Summer Bible Studies and there is a distinct possibility they will not be rolled out as they have in the past.
There will be more on that later.

The Portland RIC Core Team met on Monday. I gave a brief update about how the discernment process was going here and they both approved and were impressed by the work we have done so far. Many for the team plan to attend Pastor Christian's talk. By the way, the RIC Core Team is still looking for members from those who went to the LCNA Training in March.

Please send me your favorite Affirmations of Welcome to use to seed the Creator's collaborative space for our draft affirmation.

Grethen posted a link to a recent NPR Fresh Air interview with Gene Robinson, the first gay man elected to be an Episcopal Bishop on our blog that I encourage you to check out:

Interesting interview with Gene Robinson

I wanted to give you all this link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89659417 where you can hear a recent NPR Fresh Air interview with Gene Robinson, the first gay man elected to be an Episcopal Bishop. It's a good interview and helpful to hear his perspective even though much of the content is specific to GLBT people as Bishops specific to the Episcopal/Anglican church.

There is a link on the same page to listen to an earlier interview with Bishop Robinson from 2004, which is also very interesting.

May Creator RIC Team Meeting - May 1st

Janice asked: Do we have a date set for the May meeting? If so, could you post it? Thanks!

Gary replied: It will be the first Thursday of the month, May 1st at 7:00 PM.

April 3rd, 2008 - RIC Meeting Notes

We started the meeting with updates on the March action items. Some were complete and others were no longer needed (creating Congregational list by Zip Code).

This is what was proposed:

Invite Christian to come as soon as possible to talk (late April, early May). We felt he could navigate the talk to focus on welcome and not make ordination central. If discussion moves to this we do not need to discourage it either.

Host RIC invitational event(s) where food and stories around GLBT, friends and family welcome are shared. Toni and Mary will contact people who could share their stories about Creator welcome either directly at the event or through us (the story would be told without the details that would link it to the individual). Targeting this for May. There are some great resources at LCNA on this as well who have experience telling their stories at these kind of events.

Kick off a collaborative effort to create our Affirmation of Welcome during an Adult Education hour (ask Pastor Dayle when would be a good Sunday for this). Target for event would be late April / May (after presentation to Creator council).

Invite congregation to participate in creating our Affirmation of Welcome. The invitation would be advertised in the narthex, put in the newsletter and bulletin and sent out by email. The idea is that everyone can know they are encouraged to contribute. Their contributions can be verbal, written, over the web, or brainstormed in meetings set up for that purpose.

Family "movie night" where we would show Babette's Feast. This would be in late June/early July just before kickoff of the summer BBQ/Bible study series.

Suggest the theme of this year’s Bible Study be Hospitality and that the format be in keeping with our themed Summer Bible Studies of the past few years. Focus individual events to the last part of Creator’s initial Charter / Mission statement about Tolerance, Inclusiveness and Unity. Ideally, hospitality to others who need to be explicitly welcomed would play a part in the discussion – immigrants, divorced – single, those in different social statuses, etc… Team suggests that this not be tied to RIC directly.

We went over our Year of Discernment plan. Besides what is outlined above the highlights for presentation to the council would be:

Completion of a draft Affirmation of Welcome in August.
Send out a survey, encouraging as much feedback as possible, on how Creator embraces the draft Affirmation. This gives us a preliminary indication of how the vote would go in January. If changes become necessary they will occur in October, November and December.

Clackamas PFLAG Contact and Their Current Project

Gary writes:

I do have all the information for contacting Marion.


Marion writes:

Thank you for contacting me. We would love to partner in any way that might be helpful for you. We are currently working toward a GSA Prom on April 26 and are attempting to get the word out to all Clackamas County Youth. Our next planning meeting is April 2, 5:00PM, Atkinson Memorial Church in Oregon City and we need all the help we can get for planning.



I am attaching a flyer for you to post and distribute in your community.I am also recently reviewed materials from PFLAG for their new project Straight for Equality "guide to being a straight ally"http://www.straightforequality.org/ This material might be helpful in your process. Call me if you want to talk or get together for coffee sometime. Good look in your work with ELCA. It is important work.

Proposal for an Action Plan to present at next month's Council Meeting

We will want to finalize our proposal for how to proceed with RIC Discernment at the next RIC meeting. It will be presented at the next council meeting. This is not the detailed plan but what do you think about giving each month an alliterative name in the process. Again, this is can be changed and is given here only as an example:

May - Moving Forward with Momentum
June - Join Together
July - Journey Through Stories
August - Affirmation (A draft affirmation for initial approval)
September - Survey (Congregation surveyed on the draft affirmation)
October - Ongoing Refinement
November - New Revisions
December - Double-check
January - Journey Part II

Let me know your thoughts, questions or concerns.

LCNA RIC Core Team Meeting

Anyone who attended the RIC training is welcome to become part of the LCNA Core Team.

The invitation is from Rev. Mary Peterson:

We had a productive gathering at the RIC training on Sunday March 9 to discuss the plan and action of the RIC core team for the Portland Metro Chapter. One of the items we talked about was re-energizing our core team for those who have been involved in the past and those who have recently attended the training.

With that momentum, there will be a meeting on Tuesday evening at 7pm on March 25th at Central Lutheran, Portland. We will plan to meet from 7-8:30pm. Please let me know if you can attend.

Elaboration on Collaboration with the Congregation on Affirmation

Sorry, I could not resist the title. :)

It is simpler than it sounds.

Reading the inclusive language of Creator's Charter (or mission statement that is framed), together with the story Pastor Dayle related in her sermon the Sunday before last, I'm convinced a completely inclusive welcome is a core value for most, if not all, of the congregation.

One question Janice brought up was how many in the congregation are comfortable technically on the internet. If we create a devoted space, similar to this blog, for collaborative work on the language of the Affirmation of Welcome, will they come?

A description of what we are accomplishing would be included (an explicit welcome for all those who may not feel welcome based on past history) and the invitation would be for the congregation to consider times when they felt most welcomed themselves or realized they were proud of Creator's welcome to another and / or those times they felt least welcome or saw someone did not experience that welcome.

The entire congregation could be invited by email, mail and newsletter to contribute either by directly updating the blog, or mailing in their contributions, or perhaps dropping off their contributions at the church. The blog would be updated to reflect the non-blog contributions.

We could post hightlights of the blog on the RIC Bulletin Board. We may brainstorm how to promote this activity. When we have an affirmation of welcome distilled from the blog we could use a survey tool to poll the congregation to insure we have the affirmation the congregation approves of before the January meeting.

Benefits:

Congregation may play a part in our process quickly and simultaneously (no waiting for group meetings)

Contributions may be anonymous (any flames may be filtered out but keep their perspective)

Reading various pieces of welcome of others may inspire the congregation

We may address non-GLBT welcome issues that should be incorporated into our affirmation

We may see if there is opinion against GLBT without getting into a situation of potential conflict


Drawbacks:

The congregation may not take advantage of the blog. It becomes a less-attractive solution as a place to collaborate if it is not done directly by the congregation.

If relied on solely desired relationships may not be built and it may make it easier to put off 'one on ones'.



I don't advocate this be our only step but it makes sense as a first step to me. There may be a better idea. What I would like to see is:

1) The congregation engaged quickly

2) That no one feels left out because they are at the end of a process that takes time. People should not feel left out, particularly in a process about welcome

3) The congregation involved in something fun and inspiring. Having Creator's RIC discernment story be filled with "And then another extraordinary thing happened..." is something I am sure we are all after.

It would make sense to present our proposed next steps for RIC at the April council meeting. Pastor Dayle reports we have 87 out of 120 familes on the church email list. Also Pastor Dayle is revisiting the core values and mission definitions that came from the work of the Vision Quest team.

Another step we may want to take soon is to start practicing one on one sessions with one another in preparation for the meetings ahead.

RIC Training Resources Available

I have a copy of Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing by Dennis A Jacobsen available for borrowing. This details many of the ideas that came up during the RIC training. It is the book they recommend participants read before the training.

Comments on Previous Posts

I also posted these comments which were my thoughts on Gretchen/Gary's comments:

While I agree with the statements of inviting everyone to come, I think Mary’s comments reflect reality—that even though everyone will be invited, I think that it will primarily be people who agree that will attend an "invited" forum. We are going to have proceed very carefully to make sure that those who do not agree feel as if they are in a safe place to voice those disagreements because the bottom line is that regardless of whether we openly say it or not they KNOW where we stand on the issue. And, unfortunately, the meetings could be viewed as a situations of potential conflict and few people will eagerly approach the discomfort that could arise. Since I wasn’t able to attend the rest of the training—are we talking about specifically one on one discussions, not a group?

Janice

Dayle's first assignment complete

As we discussed last Thursday, I spoke with the h.s. youth about participating in RIC.

I asked if they had stories to share, are a part of the school's gay/straight alliance or would like to be on the team to talk to Gary, Gretchen, Toni or me. I was pleased that I didn't get a glassy-eyed stare. I know that at least one of our h.s. juniors is in the gay/straight alliance at Clackamas h.s. I'll keep the conversation going.

I'm still interested in looking at discerning the core values of the congregation. After Easter, I'll go through the mission statement materials from 2 years ago and then take a look at the original mission statement (framed in the narthex). The material is here, it's just putting in an form that make sense.

Dayle

Gretchen and Gary dialogue about groups

I'm transferring this email exchange into the blog, just for ease of referring back to the discussion:

Me: (in reference to Gary's message above about small groups)

I guess that I see this step a bit differently than dividing people into groups to change their minds…J

I see it as a necessary piece of getting to discussion of what people value – something that cannot happen in large groups. The informality of the small group and a gradual move into the discussion of welcome and (we can’t avoid it) LGBT people would hopefully lead to some sense of safety that would allow people to open up and share their feelings, especially with the help of a facilitator whose job it would be to make sure that the group discussion doesn’t dissolve into debate or negativity.

Without creating space and time for those small group discussions to really find out where people are at, I worry that those who are having problems with the whole idea will simply get lost in the masses of those who are fine with RIC. And my goal would be that EVERYONE attend a group – invited specifically – not just those who will agree. We would need to carefully explain the purpose of the groups as exploration – not proselytizing or decision-making.

So, I see the groups as a method for finding out how the congregation feels and explore those feelings in a safe setting – not based on ANY assumptions. There is no better way than in face-to-face discussions.

Does that make any sense?

Gary writes:

Your feedback is very much appreciated. It is thoughtful, it does make sense, and I think the plan will be strengthened by our discussion of the next step moving forward.

First of all, please don't think I view this as a decision either inviting the congregation to help craft the affirmation of welcome or hosting the small group discussions. I do see the benefits of small group discussion. My question is if this should be our next step.

Gretchen, I believe you identified the following goals:

1) Inviting everyone and having them attend a group discussion

2) Discovering what the congregation values as individuals in the group setting

3) Determining how the congregation feels about explicitly welcoming GLBT in a safe space the group provides through the facilitator

4) Insuring all have the opportunity to be heard and that know their opinion counts

5) Explaining the purpose of the groups as exploration – not proselytizing or decision-making

The benefits of the small group sessions are strong assuming:

1) Everyone who is invited will attend. Based on invitational events I have seen in the past this is unlikely. If it is billed as an RIC event those who do not agree may not attend, simply hoping it goes away. Logistical issue: Are we going to continue to invite people who don't attend their initial group discussion?

2) All perspectives will be heard. Those against GLBT inclusion may be uncomfortable speaking out (I am thinking of our Living Faithfully sessions here)

3) We are not proselytizing or decision-making. If we show a DVD like "The Bible Tells Me So" at a hosted gathering we might view it as exploration but others may view it differently.

I'll come clean. I may have a distorted view of hosted groups based on invitation. There was a decision that every member would have the opportunity to meet a member of council a couple of years ago. We never met our council member simply because of that person's schedule. Yet as we heard about the meetings others were having, we felt left out.

An invitational meeting by zip code didn't go well for us either. The idea is that the meeting will be in geographic proximity but ours put us with members who lived far away from us (there few members in our particular zip code). We didn't attend when we realized how much time it would take to get there.

We understood what happened each time. Still, logistics have been problematic in the past and might be here.

Again, I don't feel the hosted small group is unworkable. I do see the benefits of inviting members to begin to craft our Affirmation of Welcome first because:

1) All can be invited at once. Emailed and/or mailed, an invitation can arrive at the same time. Depending on the small groups will stretch out the time before members get involved

2) Feedback can be anonymous. Anonymity is likely the most comfortable feedback for someone who is afraid of the RIC process.

3) We can quickly gain some information we do not have now. It will take months for all the groups to meet. The invitation will allow for quicker response. We may find there is not the opposition we anticipate and can adjust our plan accordingly.

4) The congregation can take action immediately. They can do something tangible that contributes to RIC discernment in helping create the Affirmation of Welcome.

5) There can be welcoming issues outside of GLBT we can address as quickly. We can talk about whether this can duck GLBT inclusion. I don't see that.

6) Who is invited? The congregational mailing list is by family. The group invitations may be trickier. Who do we invite? Will parents feel comfortable with their teens in these small groups? What if we encourage teens to attend if parents don't feel comfortable?

So, everyone, feel comfortable to weigh in on where our next step should be. If someone sees the benefit getting advice from LCNA on this decision, let's talk about that as well. All the issues associated with each step need to be ironed out anyway.

March Meeting Minutes and proposed plan for next step in RIC discernment

Hi Everyone,

Here are the minutes of the last RIC meeting, some thoughts and a suggestion concerning our RIC discernment.

At our Thursday meeting we read the proposed ELCA Social Statement on Human Sexuality, summarized our take-away from the RIC training, and started planning next steps in the RIC discernment at Creator.

RIC Training

Three of us at the meeting had attended the RIC training.

Toni mentioned that she was struck during that weekend by a quote from writer Frederick Beuchner: "Our vocation happens when our deep gladness meets the world's deep need." I am struck by the quote as well and I wonder if we can discover that deep gladness in the work we now have before us.

Pastor Dayle's take-away from the training was “the power of core values”. Throughout the weekend Creator was consistently used as an example during excercises because we had a large number of participants. Emily Eastwood, the lead facilitator, asked us to choose if baptism or communion was a stronger core value for our congregation. Everyone from Creator answered communion. Communion is a value we share that may help draw us to consensus in the future.

A moment of clarity for me during training was a declaration that "Action is the oxygen of a community organization. Without it our organizations and our power to change society die." I researched this and found the quote came from writer / community organizer Saul Alinsky.
At the training each participant voiced a promise to take action to another participant and also agreed to hold another participant accountable for an action that he or she will take by a particular deadline. I thought about people like our own Janice and how they would be energized by this.

RIC Discernment Plan

Next, at our Thursday meeting, we discussed our plan for RIC discernment at Creator, our next action items and the deadlines. See your email attachment for action items.

Since Thursday my wife Mary and I have talked about was proposed at the meeting: a plan to set up educational events at host homes, divide the congregation by zip code, and for the RIC team members to invite the congregational members on the list. I told her this was still a work in process.

In discussing our plan, she unknowingly engaged me in another piece of what we learned in training, a little agitation.

She asked "What is the RIC team doing?"

I answered her, "Developing an explicit affirmation of welcome that would be voted on at next January's congregational meeting."

She asked "Who will attend these events?"

I answered, “Based on past experience, the most likely attendees would be those who already take a positive view on the explicit affirmation of GLBT together with those who usually attend events like this.”

Her final question was "Are you trying to determine where the congregation currently stands, or are you trying to change the minds of those who don't agree with you?"

That question opened my eyes. I realized that we don't know how the congregation feels, we started to plan based on assumptions, and, essentially, we were sticking to our old plan that did not take into account our recent training. Also, dividing Creator into groups as a first step may not be one we want to take symbolically.

What has happened around the RIC process at Creator so far is remarkable. It began with the language of welcome used in our charter.

Also, Pastor Dayle reminded us last Sunday of the courage she needed to respond when, during her call interview with the congregation, Mary Steinberg asked her to expand on a remark she made about wanting the church to be “fully welcoming”.

After “her quick chat with God”, Pastor Dayle decided to talk about those Creator might be uncomfortable to welcome. The fact that Mary asked Pastor Dayle the question, that Pastor Dayle answered the way she did and that the congregation called her after her answer demonstrates something important about Creator. I wish I had been there.

That made me I think about recent incidents I have witnessed. At council, when Kelly spoke out and broke the flow of the meeting to bring our talk back to the RIC proposal that had been made when most council members wanted to end an overly long meeting. I saw his interruption as a gift I vividly remember. It confirmed that the time is now to start RIC discernment.

Gretchen's inspired RIC presentation at January's congregational meeting was a true moment of church. Also, that Toni, Mary and Janice were moved to take on this challenge and attend the RIC training is amazing. That a national RIC training happened here in Portland just as we started RIC discernment here is another piece of this incredible story.

So, what is next? I look back at what struck us at the training; deep gladness meeting deep need in our work, learning our core value of communion, and a commitment to action. Our first action in RIC discernment should engage us in work of deep gladness, help us articulate more of our core values like communion and allow everyone to take immediate action if they want.

Here is a suggestion. Let's ask the entire congregation to contribute to building Creator's affirmation of welcome now. We can tell them our goal of explicitly welcoming anyone who may not have felt welcome now or in the past. Bring in the "one on one" atmosphere we learned in training by having everyone think about when they felt deeply welcomed and when they didn't, particularly at Creator.

Our work would be to distill these words into an affirmation of welcome that celebrates that welcome when we do it right and challenges us when we don’t. I think it could be a goose-bump moment if done from the unity this process promises.

I can go into details later about how this collaboration would work.. We could survey the congregation on the distilled affirmation of welcome until we knew people would vote for it.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Gary

Welcome to the Creator RIC Team's Blog

This will be our collaborative place to work on RIC discernment throughout the year. Let me know if there is anything you would like to see improved and I will see what I can do.

Gary